*3.3. PLES Distribution Characteristics of the Three Types of Islands in the Western Sea Area of Guangdong Province*

Overall, the areas of LS are less than both PS and ES in all types of islands. Rural residential lands are the main component of LS and are distributed dispersedly, while the urban residential land is mainly distributed on the bedrock islands. The aquaculture pond is the dominant land-use type in PS of the intertidal zone in the study area, with various proportion levels.

The bedrock islands are dominated by ES, with an area of 264.24 km2, or 70.35% of the area of bedrock islands. The ES is mainly composed of forestland, which takes 48.0%~89.4% over the island area, and is concentrated distributed on the island–continent part. The ES of the intertidal zone is made up of rock foreshore, with a small area. The PS occupies a total area of 54.95 km2, representing 14.63% of the bedrock island. The arable land of the island–continent part in bedrock islands takes up a large proportion, from 1.2% to 16.1%, except for Fengtou Island. The LS area of bedrock islands is 22.52 km2, accounting for only 6.0% of the bedrock island's total area, and the quantity of the harbor land is more than other islands, as shown in Figure 7 and Table 5.

**Figure 4.** PLES classification of bedrock islands.

**Figure 5.** PLES classification of sedimentary island.

**Figure 6.** PLES classification of volcanic island.

**Figure 7.** PLES distribution characteristics of sedimentary islands.



The sedimentary islands are dominated by PS, with an area of 362.79 km2, or 77.26% of the sedimentary islands. In PS, the aquaculture pond is the dominant land-use type and is mainly distributed in the intertidal zone, and the area of aquaculture ponds on some islands even takes up 50%, while the paddy field occupies a large proportion of the island–continent part. The proportion of the intertidal zone of ES occupies an area of 184.55 km2, or 39.3% of the island's total area, and is formed by mudflats and mangrove forests. In comparison, the ES of the island–continent part is composed of forest and shelterbelt. LS occupies an area of 66.92 km2 (or 14.25%) of the sedimentary islands, as illustrated in Figure 8 and Table 5.

**Figure 8.** PLES distribution characteristics of bedrock islands.

The number of the volcanic island samples is less than that of other island types. The overall distribution of their PLES is similar to the sedimentary islands. PS takes an area of 32.87 km2 or 58.69% of the island. The dominant land-use type in PS is day land (53.20%), and the intertidal zone is mainly occupied by aquaculture ponds. The ES on the island–continent part occupies 25.35% of the volcanic island and comprises wetland (13.80%), while rock foreshore takes a large proportion of the intertidal zone. The LS of volcanic islands occupies an area of 9.41% (see Figure 9 and Table 5).

**Figure 9.** PLES distribution characteristics of volcanic islands.

## **4. Discussion**
